Milton Hershey was an educational genius

As a person who has spent his entire career teaching prospective college students to be excellent teachers, I take exception with John Slonaker's letter (July 29).

The basic problem in education is a socio-cultural one and the solution to educating at-risk young people, as Milton Hershey wisely saw, is to "remove them from their socio-cultural environment" where there is little, if any, supervision, parenting, value teaching and guidance.

Hershey saw that if he brought the students to a place where they were provided with a safe environment and parental supervision in a community that was dedicated to teaching core values, discipline and respect, students would have an excellent chance of perceiving what they could become, behave in a manner that lead them in a positive direction, and finally to become the kind of productive citizens they are capable of being.

Milton Hershey realized that he could not save all the young people of the country, but he instituted the only solution short of socio-cultural change that will truly work.